Tree Pruning

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	Tree Pruning Prune your trees without going out on a limb.

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Transcript: Tree Pruning

Late winter is a great time to prune our deciduous landscape trees and shrubs. The reason for this is that the spring is the time when the most rapid healing takes place. This cut was made last year, and actually it’s beginning to heal quite well, closing the wound over.

When you prune, you want to do it with a purpose and for a reason. Some folks prune for the same reason they climb mountains: because they’re there. Well, that’s not a good enough reason. Trees actually need very little pruning. A little corrective pruning to train a young tree as it’s getting started is good, and then for older trees you’re basically removing broken limbs or branches that are growing in a location where you don’t want them.

In order to prune properly, you want to do it in three steps. First, make an upward cut about a third of the way through the branch. Then go out from that just a little bit and cut down until the branch falls away. The reason for the first cut is to prevent the branch from stripping the bark down the limb. The third cut is made by removing the pruning stub you left pretty close to the branch. You want to leave that raised ring where the branch attaches. If you leave it too long, it leaves a pruning stub that doesn’t heal and allows decay to get into the branch. If you cut it too short, you make an extra large wound that just leaves time to heal, so make it at the proper place.

Pruning paints are not usually necessary and don’t do the branch any good. However, if you’re pruning oak trees in an area where there is oak wilt, you want to paint those wounds immediately to discourage the beetle that spreads oak wilt from coming and feeding on the wounds.

With your common sense tree pruning tip, I’m Skip Richter.

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Last Updated: July 6, 2006